Tours & group facilitation
Guiding in Katmai, Turneffe Atoll, and Lees Ferry, plus leading student groups through Sarasota field experiences.
Education • Nature • Experience
Where Education Meets Nature
15 years as an educator. A lifetime outdoors. A career built around helping people learn, explore, and connect with the natural world.
My journey from Sarasota classrooms to outdoor education, wilderness guiding, curriculum development, and nature-based programming.
Foundation
Education & Credentials
Education
- Master of Arts in Teaching — Elementary EducationUniversity of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee
- Master of Science in Information TechnologyUniversity of Denver · 2026
- Bachelor’s Degree in BusinessOhio Dominican
Teaching credentials
- Gifted Education Certification
- Exceptional Student Education — ESE
- ESOL Training
- Reading Endorsement
Professional / outdoor credentials
- Fly Fishers International Certified Casting InstructorFly Fishers International
15 Years in Education
Formal Educator
My classroom career has centered on helping students learn through relationships, collaboration, curiosity, and meaningful experiences.
- Kinnan Elementary SchoolElementary Educator · Sarasota/Manatee area, Florida
- Visible Men AcademyEducator · Bradenton, Florida
- Toledo Blade Elementary SchoolElementary Educator · North Port, Florida
- Ashton Elementary SchoolElementary Educator · Sarasota, Florida
Hands-On Learning
Science Instructor
Science was one of the subjects I loved teaching most. I built lessons around observation, experimentation, engineering, data collection, living systems, and real-world application.
Science was meant to be experienced.
Learning Beyond the Classroom
Outdoor Nature Educator
Outdoor education has always been part of how I teach. I want students to experience the natural world directly, ask questions, observe closely, and connect learning to place.
“The field trip was never separate from the curriculum. It was part of the curriculum.”
Sarasota Field Experiences
Field Trip Leadership
I have planned and led outdoor learning experiences in Sarasota County, coordinating the educational goals as well as transportation, payments, family communication, medical documentation, safety procedures, supervision, and communication with host locations.
A successful educational experience begins long before the group arrives.
- Scheduling
- Payments
- Transportation
- Parent communication
- Permission forms
- Medical and nurse documentation
- Safety procedures
- Student supervision
- Host-site communication
- Curriculum preparation
- Follow-up learning
A life connected to nature
The settings changed. The purpose stayed the same.
Help people experience a place, understand it, and build a stronger connection to the natural world.
- AlaskaKatmai National ParkGuide / General Manager
Guiding and operational leadership experience in a remote wilderness environment.
- BelizeTurneffe AtollGuide / General Manager
Guiding and guest-experience leadership in a remote marine environment.
- ArizonaLees Ferry / Colorado RiverGuide / General Manager
Guiding and operational leadership along the Colorado River corridor.
- Western MaineCamp Kawanhee for BoysHead of the Nature Department · 2023–2026
Led and rebuilt the Nature Department curriculum and expanded nature, fly-fishing, fly-casting, rod-building, river ecology, and outdoor education programming.
- Sarasota, FloridaMarie Selby Botanical Gardens / SarasotaLongtime member and outdoor education curriculum designer
Longtime Selby Gardens member and Sarasota educator with experience designing homeschool and outdoor education curriculum.
Western Maine • Four Summers
Leading the Nature Department at Camp Kawanhee
For the past four summers, I have led the Nature Department at Camp Kawanhee for Boys in Western Maine. I rebuilt and expanded the curriculum, developed new fly-fishing, fly-casting and rod-building programs, and created outdoor learning experiences that connect skills with ecology, stewardship, safety and place.
A progressive outdoor education program combining nature study, fly fishing, fly casting, rod building, river ecology, and a capstone overnight experience on the Magalloway River.
Curriculum → River Experience
From Learning to Experience
The fly-fishing school is designed as a progression: campers learn casting, equipment, brook trout biology, aquatic entomology, riparian ecology, river safety, regional history and stewardship, then apply those lessons during a real river experience in Western Maine.
- Learn
- Practice
- Understand
- Apply
- Experience
- Brook trout biology
- Aquatic entomology
- River ecosystems
- Riparian environments
- Regional history
- Hydroelectric dams
- Wading safety
- Environmental stewardship
- Casting
- Rod building
“The goal is not simply to teach someone how to catch a fish. The goal is to help them understand the place they are standing in.”
The work behind the experience
I don’t only teach programs. I run them.
I enjoy both sides of educational programming: creating the experience and building the systems that allow it to happen smoothly and safely.
- Scheduling
- Transportation
- Reservations
- Meal planning
- Camp leadership coordination
- Counselor coordination
- Nurse and medical coordination
- Safety gear
- Fishing gear
- Staffing
- Communication
- Contingency planning
What I bring to education programming
Experience, not claims.
Scheduling & communication
Scheduling · Parent communication · Host-site communication
Curriculum & content development
Designed science curriculum around outdoor field experiences and rebuilt the Camp Kawanhee nature curriculum.
Children & families
Roughly fifteen years teaching in 4 Sarasota-area schools, working with students and their families.
Camp & youth programming
Head of the Nature Department at Camp Kawanhee for Boys, Western Maine.
Community engagement
Longtime member and outdoor education curriculum designer, Sarasota, Florida.
My connection to Selby Gardens
A member, a neighbor, an educator.
Longtime member and outdoor education curriculum designer — Sarasota, Florida.
Longtime Selby Gardens member and Sarasota educator with experience designing homeschool and outdoor education curriculum.
- Selby Gardens member
- Outdoor curriculum design
- Sarasota community
What I believe about education
- Education is most powerful when it is connected to experience.
- Children remember curiosity, wonder, and connection.
- Special places matter more when people understand them and care about them.
- Great programs do more than inform. They invite people in.
My mission
To create educational experiences that help people understand a place, experience it personally, and leave caring about it more than when they arrived.
The next chapter
Why Selby Gardens
- Sarasota classrooms
- Science field trips
- Outdoor curriculum
- Wilderness guiding
- Camp Kawanhee
- Nature-program leadership
- Selby Gardens
Selby Gardens feels less like a change in direction and more like the natural next chapter of the work I have been doing throughout my life.
Contact
Kevin Bonasera
Educator • Outdoor Program Leader • Curriculum Designer • Guide